Fight to stop change at writer’s home

Press, 30 January 1984, Page 10

Fight to stop change at writer’s home

NZPA-AAP London A battle is on to prevent the home of the writer Beatrix Potter being converted into tearooms, a cof-fee-shop and a seven-bed-room guest house. Beatrix Potter used the quaint cottage and woodyard as the basis for illustrations for three of her best-loved stories, the “Sunday Telegraph” reports. The site, Buckle, Yeat, in the Lake District, was bought at the end of last year by Dennis Lambert. Mr Lambert plans to extend the cottage by two metres to convert it into a guest house and demolish the buildings of the woodyard for a car park. Residents and fans of

Beatrix Potter are outraged. They fear the character of the village will be irrevocably changed and are concerned that it will bring even more than the 100,000 visitors now calling each year. The fight against the development plans is being led by the National Trust, which was given 2835 ha in • the will of Beatrix Potter, who died in 1943. Letters of objection have also been sent to the Lake District’s special planning board by the Beatrix Potter Society, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the publishers of Potter’s stories, and John Hawkesworth, who was the executive producer of the 8.8. C. film, “The*’

Tales of Beatrix Potter.” The National Trust is concerned that the home, which houses many of Potter’s original illustrations, is “over-visited” and has therefore objected to the plan. Mr Lambert, who has lived in the village for 15 years, described the protests as “a storm in a tearoom.” At a meeting before Christmas, the parish council approved the plans but after the controversy has now recommended that the special board meets at the site before finally deciding. This is also the recommendation of . the South Lakeland District Council, and the board’s planning officer.